The weird thing about trauma exposure is that it can come back in unexpected, powerful ways. Even years after the trauma has occurred, and you have been mostly symptom-free, something can trigger a trauma response and you are nearly powerless to its might. Trauma affects the way our brains develop, how we behave, and how…
PHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH That is the sound of me blowing the dust off the ol’ blog. It has been over two years since I have written here, dayum! When typing in my blog address this afternoon, I wondered if I would have to log in again or if by some miracle it would still be auto logged-in.…
FIVE YEARS!!! It has been exactly five years since my last anaphylactic allergic reaction. This is HUGE for someone who is deathly allergic to egg, seafood, nuts, moldy cheeses, and possibly Vitamin E. Someone who has had around 42 hospitalizations due to anaphylaxis for the first 23 years of life, and seems to have new…
I know I’ve been slacking on the writing a bit lately, I’ll be picking back up again really soon! What I’m posting today is a quick recipe! While I am excited to share it with you guys, it is really here for my own selfish reasons. It’s a recipe that I adapted from a few…
I saw her photos on Instagram and was immediately drawn to them. We had a lot in common, it seemed. We both owned chocolate labradoodles, had anaphylactic allergies, and lived in the Carolinas. The more I got to “know” Brynn Duncan, however, I realized that while we did have things in common, our lives were…
It has been almost one year since I nervously sat next to a crackling fire in my living room, about to be hypnotized for the first time. I was completely petrified, scared to let my psyche and willpower (or so I thought) be placed in the hands of another person. I wasn’t being hypnotized to…
Yesterday I read a tragic article about a 13-year old girl, Natalie, who died from anaphylactic shock due to accidentally ingesting peanut butter. After reading the first few sentences of the article, I grew angry with several questions racing through my mind. Why the hell didn’t they have an EpiPen on hand? Why did she…
Owning a dog seemed impossible to a girl with severe asthma, allergies, eczema — and not just a little anxiety. After all, I’d almost died several times from asthma attacks and anaphylaxis from food allergies. Doctors joked that I should live in a bubble or on a sterile boat in the middle of the ocean,…
Ever since I got Henri, my eyes have been opened to a whole new world of people I can’t stand. Animal shelter/adoption activists. Rather, SOME animal shelter/adoption activists. I don’t want to generalize. I love the idea of animal adoption. I admire the people who rescue animals and the people who facilitate these adoptions. To the…
As the wheels of our plane touched down in North Carolina at the end of our honeymoon, I gave myself a mental high-five and said “you did it!!!!” I didn’t learn to surf. I didn’t learn to hula dance. I didn’t even go snorkeling in the tropical freezing cold Hawaiian waters. No, I was proud…
The Other Courtney 